stay dry. lou: good evening. the president and national security team have refused to stand before the american people for seven weeks to explain how what happened in benghazi. the reit administration refuses to be clear who is responsible and y. every day it is evident president wasn't prepared for the attacks on the nsulate, despite warnings and requests for help from the intelligence community. cia operatives were desperate for help.

the battle consulate one battlefronts the cia annex and ty were screaming for help. sources tell fox news three california operatives reported gunshots at the consulate and they were ordered to stand down. one after it began they ignored the orders and evacuated those who remained to the annex after returning with survivors and one body the operatives requested back up and were denied. again. roughly four hours later they were killed by mortar fire on the annex building. special operations portions portions -- forces were stationed 480 miles away. less than two hours by aircraft. october 10th the state department justified they

were watching and listening to the attacks throughout in realtime. a to over 20th, there was one predator drone overhead during the attacks. today eyewitness accounts report they were pleading for help by the americans as the terrorist attack at the consulate and the annex. how could be on panetta still say this? >> it is a basic principle. you do not deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what is going on or realtime information what is taking place. as a result of not having that deprivation, the commander general them say and i felt we could not put forces at risk in that

situation. lou: could not perforce is at risk. president obama accepted responsibility finally during the second presidential debate. one month later. but since then has said nothing. of the prident claimed he was unaware of any requests to blame -- increase security and blamed others for the shift of the story. >> intelligence was coming as more information came up. what is true of the american people can take this to the bank. my administration plays thee3 straight. we don't play politics with american national security. >> vista's explain why the two video was not part of any explanation to say it is part of the attack.

may take this up tonight wi john bolton and up to date on the presidential campaign and the polls are tightening. governor romney makes a speech in iowa as the president has another version of the old plan with better pictures. is the president's definition of fair a reflection of comprehensive enterprise? we began with the benghazi controversy. the explanation does not stand up to what we're learning today. fox news has learned cia operatives have a laser target pinpointing the libyan border team attacking the cia andxpert but there was no counterstrike. our men were abandoned.

joining us now is john bolton. also cia operative michael scheuer. good to have you both here. >> if i may. lou: why and the world are we not able to get a straight answer over seven weeks about what happened to, why? who was responsible and why is the national media seen at -- seem nothing to be anything but lapdog sat? >> why can't we get a straight answer? the story keeps shifting the administrations does not want to own up to the fundamental problem to deny ality. according to them outside is to be dumb -- defeated dumb -- defeated, copies removal was a triumph.

that would require them to a bit they misjudged the situation. they did. there are four dead americans. septber 11 enters a timber 13 is important but they were not ready before hand and they should have been. that is the failure. >> i don't think they were not ready but i think they were chomping at the bit to rescue those people. people joined the military to go into harm's way. in a non perfect world you go with the best information and that you have. we don't let people be slaughtered from the drum overhead. lou: it troubles me deeply

to think three or 400 americans with national security responsibility of different levels, watched and listened to this. i'm leaving the president and political civilian leaders ouof this. how could it be they could watch and listen to more americans die? >> i think there needs to be a congressional investigation. i don't think we are in a position to guess the tactical decisions. lou: at i am in a psition to ask the question. second-guess is not inappropriate expression. the american people have a right to know. i will not fall into the nonsense of the

administration to ask questions that are the right to the american people. >> no, no, no. some people say they should have dispatched special forces. how do you know, ? maybe they should have. knowing this was a dangerous region or libya was high threat posed, repeated requests for security enhancements, why weren't people ready already? lou: your second-guessing that. why were people expressing themselves before this occurred? >> i cannot agree more. >> my experience is no politician wants to take a chance the media will ridicule him if he takes an

action and fails. mr. bush let osama bin nodding get away from the tora bora mountains because it would not send soldiers to perfect arms -- harm's way so he lived for another decade. lou: they would not send american forces into harm's way? >> on the field and new orders came from washington. >> gas let's him g away the thing that it started. they were afraid of his lawyers. cia is not a combat operation. increasingly put them in that position. who got to afghanistan first? the agency and we have the coffee brewing by the time the military ot there.

i am sure sooeone to be there first. lou: i think we could all agree there is a considerable confusion in the united state government and using the role of the military with covert intelligence agencies and the u.s. aid the and confused intelligence agencies with the cia with the military. >> the confusion in this instance is the white house with the president pro all the reasons why we've heard of military force could not be sent, we need permission. how was that? the cia deniedequest. if the president has an inclination not to use force bureaucrats can follow that.

that is the direction. not from leon anetta but from the president. that is what pople need to go after. >> exactly. the president hangs around in this country with people who hate the military, war and defending america up. he wants to go to jon stewart, las vegas, i get himself flattered with young people while soldiers and ambassadors are killed overseas. he is a despicable man in terms of being commander in chief. lou: thank you. more on the worsening scandal. with the "a team" next. 11 days. polls and polls. what happens if neither candidate may -- -- breaches the number of 270?

the top stock. another bombshell from the "rolling stone" interview. is clear he is not content is clear he is not content to just regulate hahahaha! hooohooo, hahaha! this is awesome! folks who save hundreds of dollars swching to geico sure are happy. i'd say happier than a slinky on an escalator get happy. get geico. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. folks who save hundrs of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market.

get happy. get geico.

@%u: a president has a new economic plan strikingly similar to the old one but has more pictures. four more years of the president's policies for the country in just moments. here's what have been don wall street. gdp expanded at 4% but news the economy is growing as some feared.

of the edo squeezes out modest gains trading on the big board. 3.3 billion in line with recent activity. the dow is down and the nasdaq just over half a percent. gasoline futures moving higher with supply disruptions on the east coast worried about hurricane sandy. the 10 year note is coming back with a sense things are slowly improving. consumer confidence shows rising at to a five-year high. some expectedmore than that. more bad news with the president green energy agenda. despite -- inspector general

slamming the green jobs training program and that thindependent report. more than half of te 81,00 who participated and completed the training, already had jobs. correct. more than half the bowing to the training already had jobs. those who were desperate for work only 38% actually got a job and them spending 530,000 to achieve those results. the president now has his eye on executive pay rules. the next expansion of government. not a modest proposal that the stability of markets that people may risky bets.

they face limited consequence if they don't. >> it tilts bowl system of risky behavior by the time the chickens come home to roost, think of this concept, chickens and pay, they are ahead of the game. lou: joining us now is steve forbes. the president if he does not win reelection realizes he could be the pay czar? >> i think he will do is go on a lecture circuit. i would be glad to pay him of the to go out of the white house. >> >> this change to those deficits the fact is this

president is in a tight race with governor romney it is not seem there is a clear winner. >> i think governor romney will win theumbers show the majority and they are better able to handle it that obama. evenhough we get little changes we still go 35 miles per hour when we should be going 70. people though the rest of the world is not right. the first abate mitt romney proved he can meet -- le the country. lou: arguably he will change the history with that

performance. what can be done by president romney to change the trajectory of this economy with more than a job creation machine? >> number one data piss-off the fiscal cliff. so we don't have a severe recession but simplify the tax code. fire ben bernanke to get somebody who realizes to cheapen the dollar is not the way to wealth. >> he could force him out. >> harry truman showed you could fire the fed chairman. [laughter] as well as a general. [laughter] lou: none of that has the immediate effect of those

who have suffered under this administration. those who don't have ajob and are underemployed giving up then we have a group of ceos speaking up for the multinationals we would like to go to the simpson thing. we want to raise taxes. reject it --ejected by both republicans and democrats. we hear from business leaders they come up with this. >> how low do the fine balance? i will take that. remove the tax shelter and cut the top rate. >> rahm it -- romney is already proposing nonsense.

>> we have a huge tax increase aready slowing the ecomy down. to the clutter the tax code everyone can declare victory like 1986. we took the jump out and got the rates down. get those down sharply. >> he will be the president. >> romney has already made these proposals what are they doing? i don't understand the motivation. >> they try to kick congresses but. >> bette late than never. >> when you repeals obamacare and get to a sound

dollar people think we will do something on the spending side is usual -- the juice will come. the government is not as much of an emy anymore as it is under this guy. lou: vice presidentiden jet lag gourde just joe being joe? you will of the numbers. if you think the government is dysfunctional allow wait until you see the eltoral college tied. college tied. up next.

stay top of mind with customers? from deals that bring them in with an offer... to social media promotions that turn fans into customers... to events that engage and create buzz... to e-mails that keep loyal customers coming back, our easy-to-use tools will keep you in front of your customers. see what's right for you at constantcontact.cotry. busy in here. yeah. progressive mobile is... [ "everybody have fun tonight" plays ] really catching on! people can do it all! get a quote, buy and manage your policy! well, what's with the... -[ music resumes ] -music? ♪ have fun tonight dude. getting a car insurance quote.

i'll let it go to voicemail. [ clears throat ] ♪ everybody wang chung tonight ♪ putting it on vibrate. [ cell phone vibrates ] -[ loud vibrating ] -it'll pass. [ vibrating continues ] our giant store and your little phone. that's progressive mobile. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

the. ♪ why. lou: last night we brought you high check -- high-tech talk talk. we are back with the blackboard. i like the blackboard. we talked about each candid it's a strategy to get to the magic 270 electoral vooes needed to win, but there is a possibility, and that is what we are going to talk about tonight, that this could end an electoral college tight. there are 32 ways n which that could happen. thirty-two. it is not entirely the unthinkable. let's go over one of the most plausible possibilities. right now president obama can safely count on 201 electoral votes. that is unchanged from yesterday. romney can safely count on 191. that is changed. that has changed because north carolina, and let me bring this up today here.

north calina was moved to the tossup category just yesterday. that accounts for the 15 votes that moved away. so where he had at 206, 206 to 201, now 191. and let's turn now to of romney who needs to win north carolina. he is still up in the polls by a significant margin, but four points. yesterday it was more than five. we have that. romney would need also to win, just as before, the state of florida, 29 votes. let's get that. and he is up two points in florida. he also needs virginia where he is up by one point. let's go there. he is building 248. colorado, where both candidates

are tied up right now 48-48. we will give that to governor romney as well. we will move that into his column, 257. president obama right now is up by two in iowa, what the purpose of this scenario we will assumed that governor romney wins. i'm sure you won't argue. he also needs nevada where president obama right now is up by two and a half points. we are giving that to governor romney. see how this scenario plays out. the president would have to take the state of michigan where he is up by four points. let's give those 15 points to him. wisconsin where he is up by two. this is one of the most -- obviously one of the most important states. ohio where the president is up by two points in a pivotal, obviously as we have been talking about and will be talking about for 11 days, ohio

critical. we will give that to the president. pennsylvania. the president is up five points. adding another 20 points to his electoral coun. new hampshire, those four points we are going to give. up by just one point. if thatere to happen, as you can see, 269-269, we have a time. so what do we do in the event that this occurs? by the way, this is entirely possible. let's go old school. back to the blackboard. and if no candidate receives a majority it triggers what is called a contingent, and there are, i assure you. it is seldom in the house of representatives, and in that case which is thepresident of

the united states, the house would choose the president and then in the senate, and this, by the way, we should point out, is in the constitution. the senate chooses the vice-president. the contingent election. if we assume the republicans reserve control of the house and senate continues to be controlled b the democrats we would be looking at the almost, are you ready for this, and believable, of romney biden ticket woul be their results. i'm not kidding. as much as it sounds utterly absurd, just ask that to people who would be most affected by this scenario, president obama and congressman ryan. if your wondering about the numbers at the bottom of the chalkboard, these numbers i

found really interesting today. governor romney give a speech in ames, iowa. it is the number of references in romney's i was beach. he talked about really, ice. about the economy in the future of the country. and in a complete reversal of what i call the obama ratio, it is a complete reversal. this 12 represents the number of times that governor romney used fit-person references. wow. hurricane sandy roaring of te eastern seaboard. more than 60 million people in the path of the powerful storm. forecasters fearing damage on an epic scale. is the east coast prepared? president obama once your first time. >> your first time should not be with just anybody. you want to do it with a great guy. lou: the classless, tasteless, knew about my campaign abbottabad that creates voting

-- equates money with losing virginity. we have the at and reaction from the "a-team." the president keeps talking about a fair share. governor romney wants to cut taxes across the board for everyone. the author of who is the fairest of them all, steven more common joins me to talk about joins me to talk about prosperity and everyone in the nicu, all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help.

♪ lou: new accusations today from vice-president joe biden hitting governor romney and republicans on taxes in a campaign event in wisconsin. >> you cannot erase what you have already done. they voted to extend tax cuts for the wealthy giving $500 trillion tax cut so 120,000 families. lou: that's a lot of money. 500 trillion. you have to love the vice-president, his view on things and, his expression. for a little perspective, the national debt is 16 trillion.

we'll just leave it there. my next guest says there is no case on economic grounds to raise taxes. joining me now, senior economic writer for the wall street journal, stephen moore, author of the new book, the truth about opportunity, taes, and wealth in america. great to have you with us. >> great to be with you. can i say something? this is really the problem in washington. you know, and it's not just joe biden. these politicians can't tell the difference between a billion and a trillion. the the numbers are so big now, everybody's eyes glaze over. a trillion dollars, million million. all lot of zeros. lou: and you know what, we, like you, cover these big numbers all the time. and i can't blame anyone whose eyes glaze over on these numbers abstraction's beyond comprehension irrespective of who is speaking about them. but we do know one thing. we are watching our blood and

sweat absolutely pour out of government. we are payig for generations, the madness of these legislators, these presiden, and it is got to stop. >> lou, i have been in washington for about 25 years. when i first came in the mid 80's during the reagan years, we nver talked about the budget in the trillions of dollars. we talked about it in the billions. this is a new phenomenon. that gives you a sense of the magnitude of the problem. lou: i can remember when president reagan -- believe on correct. aaron burr in using the example of ho to conceptualize a billion dollars. that was a big idea. he came up with various ways in which to try to help folks understand what it was. a trillion is incomprehensible.3 it is simply incomprehensible. except there are 16 of them that we help. >> and i worked for president reagan in 1987 when he introduced the first trillion

dollar budget. we were embarrassed by that. now we increase the debt by 5 trillion in four years, $4 trillion national budget. it really is kind of amazing how much this budget has grown in the last 25 years. by the way, under republicans and democrats, they're both responsible for this mess. lou: i remeer that reagan was a republican. the first trillion dollars. shame on you for having done that. let's turn. >> i assure you, we were not proud of that. lou: i understand. the idea that we have what we call in this broadcast the gang of 80, abc -- the ceos talking rather sanctimoniously about how to deal with the fiscal cliff. started talking about raising taxes. i have to tell you, the simpson bowles plan was reected by republicans, democrats, congress, and the president. let's get straight. died bless the two men, but they

are down. it was rejected. it's over. is not a very smart plan in my opinion. let me be heretical and say point blank. these 80 ceos coming out and saying they have got said raise taxes, that they wre specific about. the rest is still ambiguous. >> you know, this is why i wrote my book. i really wanted to talk about what creates the prosperity in this country, what has made america the richest country in the history of this planet. the conclusion i came to that is not going to surprise you or a lot of your viewers is that the free enterprise system is the fairest of the mall, the system and creates the most wealth, jobs, economic opportunity for this country. here's the problem. going after the top -- lou: what i'm asking you about is the gang of adn talking about raising taxes. >> right. lou: what is the name of your book again? >> but here is my point.

lou: by the way, you can connect. go to loudobbs.com andwe have a link. >> the point i was making, was getting to that point. look. the ceos say let's raise the tax on the top 2%. even if you do that, and you have seen as right about this, even if you take every single dime of every one of the millionaires in america you only find the government for about 4550 days. you're not going to make a dent in the deficit by simply raising even the president says he only praise 50 or 60 billion a year. we have a $1 trillion deficit. you cannot get from here to there which is the point i'm making. we have to start making some cuts in spending programs. lou: he ote a book entitled to is the fairest of the mall, and we recommend it highly. good to have you with us. a new obama campaign ad reaching out to female voters, testing the boundaries of decency, breaking the boundaries of class

and propriety. coming up next, former defense secretary donald rumsfeld joins us, fomer reagan adviser arthur laugher. stay with us. we are tracking hurricanes sandy. the very latest for you. this looks like the real deal. ♪

♪ lou: president's -- residents along the east coast are bracing for hurricane sandy, not due to make landfall in text and -- until next week, but it looks like it could be a spectacular event come early tuesday. hurricane sandy has been battering the bahamas, tearing to the caribbean, killing at least 40 people, that is how powerful the storm has been. still more than 400 miles southeast of south carolina. top winds are barely hurricane strength right now. however, if it should hit the atlantic coast, the neurologists

are saying it could blend with a winter storm creating what would be a very dangerous monstrous storm. fox news meteorologist joining us to explain what that might entail. >> the typical nor'easter, some spots macy 10 inches of rain, rain, not snow, rain, but heavy rain falling. wind will be with us likely around 36, maybe even 48 hours. a lot of people saying wins 40, 60 miles-per-hour, probably some %-massive power outages, and you see where this is heading, boston down toward d.c. lou: already a political effect. vice-president biden and governor romney had to cancel rallies in virginia over the weekend. conservatives expressing outrage over the newest obama campaign ad. get a load of this. the minute-long spot featuring hbo's star lena down and comparing voting to losing virginity.

>> the first time should not be with just anybody. you want to do it with a great guy. it should be with a guy with beautiful, someone who really cares about and understands women to my dad who cares whether you get healthnsurance and specifically whether you get birth control. lou: even going on to my people who don't vote because they're not ready, calling them super uncool. we will take that up with the "a-team." up next, the benghazi's scandal is widening with reports that the cia was telling their officials to stand down. the "a-team" tak up the political implications, ramifications. right here. right here. good to have you a 4g lte is the fastest.

so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

[beep] [indistinct chatter] [kids talking at once] [speaking foreign language] [heart beating] [heartbeat continues]

[faint singing] [heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me ♪ ♪ i was a lonely soul, but that's the old me... ♪ announcer: this song was created with heartbeats of children in need. find out how it can help frontlinhealth workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org.

lou: joining me now, the "a-team". good to have you will hear. let me start with you. the idea that every day we learn something more about what this administration won't tell us. it is being leaked out, in dribs and drabs, but by gosh, what a dramatic and tragic and heartbreaking bits of information, today learning the fate of the man who asked for help, for support over the course of seven hours and were denied it and killed. your thoughts. >> i just want to start by saying that the cia agents who came in to help were told not to there were told to stand down over and over, which is interesting and unclear what the meaning.

they violated orders to go in and get americans out. lou: should they be court-martialed? >> no, they should be given medals. they did their jobs. lou: how is it relevant? >> whoever was in the white house can at the head of the various security agencies clearly had decided there were not going to do anything. they have the means and chose not to. lou: national heroes. and the fact is their -- i think there are a national disgrace guy an absolute disgrace. >> i agree. they are heroes to give up their life for their country and they're is a lot of information, disinformation. sorting and now will take time. lou: let's stop right there because you're right, t i would like an answer on my question and i would like you to say who is responsible for the disinformation, who is responsible for the lack of information. how can a president of the united states to stand up before the american people and refused to tell them what in the world

is going on after story after story after contradiction after contradiction. others are calling them lies. how in the world can that happen? >> the president took responsibility at the third and final debate. he said it's my administration, and he accepted responsibility for it. lou: so we should vote him out of office on that basis. >> the president is saying we are bringing justice to the people who created the videos. the u.s. government created the video, whicheally wasn't the cause of the attack. when do you put military into harm's way when your guys are calling for help? these men have lost their lives. i don't understand te point of having military on navy ships off shore or add bases surrounding the area if you're not going to use them. >> i just want to say the president took responsibility for the security failure in the deaths, not for the misinformation and perhaps deliberate misleading of the american people about what was

-- the fact that it was terror and were blaming and something else. that is a political choice. >> thepresident have been better off if he had said this was a terrorist attack, but it's not the same thing as investigating the occupy wall street when you have police on the ground and the constitution and law enforcement there. you're talking about a foreign nation. lou: let's be clear. the station chief absolutely communicating directly with the situation room. his superiors in washington d.c. the entire national security apparatus had access to live video, live audio in real time of what was transpiring over that entire duration of the incident. there is no way for leon panetta, the defense secretary, to sit there and say that did not know what was going on. >> remember the stories we heard that obama produced to kill in london until that last incident

where hillary and panetta pushed and finally he went in. they have good intelligence each time. this is the first time. they chose not act. >> 2008 president obama and candidate obama, if we get this guy in our process we will take the shot. the ticket. lou: and this time tragedy and heartbreakingly sell. very quickly to percent gdp growth. >> we're running at about half what it was three and a half years ago. the recovery began in june of 2009. a degree slope. and more of the same. how do we get out of this growth rate? and not seeing a change in washington d.c. unless we had a crisis. that is when you will see changed for. lou: thank you. appreciate you being with us. have a great weekend. up next, one of our viewers looking for david patraeus. is he with the cia?

we will be right back. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business crit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, everday! helium deliver put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businees deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capitalne. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet?

lou: for your comments, charles said there's a stinch coming from washington, and it seems to be in the vicinity of the white house and the state department. we're going to leave it there apparently. we're going to -- what are we looking at? bud coburn says it's odd we don't hear